A very special throwback

With a history that stretches across more than a century, it is safe to say that Umngazi has evolved over many years, from the small Cwebeni trading station established in 1906, to the popular seaside resort that exists today. Thus, when receiving contact from from guests that essentially formed a part of our piece of paradise so incredibly steeped in history, it is more than interesting, it is a heart-warming moment.

Hello from Australia. We are very thrilled to find your place is still in existence. We spent our honeymoon at the Bungalows in March 1953. Hope you enjoy the pictures of what it was like then. We had a month there and the following two years returned for our holiday. It was a great place to stay and the owner was Basil. The lights were out at 9pm as it was run by the generators. There was a light at the toilet block and Gazi the Great Dane slept nearby. We will be celebrating our 60th Wedding Anniversary next March 2013 and often look at the photos.

My husband made the canoe in two halves as it was too long to put on the car roof of the 1941 Chev. We lived in Durban and it was a long dusty drive to the Bungalows. In those days there was no road bridge at Port St Johns and traffic was taken over on a punt. The punt was sunk the day before with a bus on board and we had to detour to Umtata via Mount Frere and the stay the night. Hence we arrived a day late at the Bungalows.

May you continue to have the visitors in the years ahead. We left South Africa in 1962 to live in England but ended up in Australia in 1966.